Most people learn English Country Dance (ECD) figures by repetition and eventually get them right. Repetition works but is likely to miss some of the geometric pattern of figures that makes the dance look good and must be followed for everybody get to right place. Seeing diagrams might help learning the figures a little. They also can show beginners importance of dressing the lines and the set.
The diagrams use text boxes to show figures. This works well for some figures but not for all. Diagrams seem to work best for showing features of heys and forming lines. How to identify dancers is a problem, just as it is for callers, when they are not dancing from their normal positions.
Figure Diagrams
| figure 8 | full, double, and half |
| grand square | four couples |
| heys | circular, straight, cross, hey on ends |
| siding | simple and curly siding |
| sheepskin hey | hey from Picking Up Sticks |
| common figures | gate, side door, lead down, cast to line of four |
Dance Diagrams
| Barham Down | duple minor | 3/2 | Newcastle | 4 couple sq | 2/2 | |
| The Bishop | triple minor | 2/4 | Prince William | 3 couple set | 4/4 | |
| Dublin Bay | duple minor | 12/8 | Punchbowl | duple minor | 3/2 | |
| Duke of Kent's Waltz | duple minor | 3/4 | St. Margaret's Hill | 3 couple set | 3/2 | |
| Fandango | 3 couple set | 6/8 | Sun Assembly | duple minor | 2/4 | |
| Female Saylor | duple minor | 6/8 | Wakefield Hunt | triple minor | 6/8 | |
| Hole in the Wall | duple minor | 3/2 | Well Hall | duple minor | 3/2 | |
| Jack's Maggot | duple minor | 4/4 | ||||
| Jamaica | duple minor | 2/2 | ||||
| Lilli Burlero | duple minor | 6/8 |
JavaScript pages
Minuet pages
Links
John Chambers' ABC music collection
The music page, The ABC Tune Finder searches the index files produced by the bot program. It shows the matching tunes, and lets you retrieve them in several formats.
Definitions of Elements of English Country Dance
http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/round/dances/elements.htm
Definitions of steps
The Dancing Master, 1651-1728: An Illustrated Compendium By Robert M.
Keller
http://www.izaak.unh.edu/nhltmd/indexes/dancingmaster/
"For this publication every dance was reduced to a code enabling comparison
with similar dances. The unique or dances were identified
and collected into a database where each dance printing history and
other information is summarized and a facsimile of the dance and its music
is included. The Index presents every item by title with links to the Ur
Dance Index. The Title/Link takes the reader to a bibliography of the sources.
Searches can be made on all text entries as well as on the dance coding to
find instances of specific dance figures in juxtaposition with others."
1)Table of Contents (2)Title Page (3)Introduction (4)Browse Title Index (5)Browse
Source Index (6)Search the Database (7)Acknowledgments(8)Data Collection
(9)Bibliography (10)Sign the Guestbook (11)Order Database
English Country Dance Terms
http://www.rpi.edu/~belld2/terms.htm
English Country Dance Notes
http://www.rpi.edu/~belld2/beginners.htm
This page is a collection of notes and comments by various dance
caller/instructors about teaching English Country Dance to beginners.
Terms You Need to Know and Understand For English Country Dancing
http://www.cdny.org/Terms.html
Page from New York English Country Dance web site.
Colin Humes Dance Technique page
http://www.colinhume.com
Search Page
http://ban.joh.cam.ac.uk/~abs21/dance.html
An index of country dances and where they are published.
Intended to cover English (Traditional/Ceilidh and Playford) and American Contra/Traditional Squares.
Dancetime Publications
http://www.dancetimepublications.com
The History of Dance: 500 Years of Social Dance from Dancetime
Publications.
Dancetime Publications specializes in the preservation, reconstruction and
distribution of information on 500 years of our Social Dance History.
Videos, DVDs, CDs, and texts are available.
Earthly Delights
http://www.earthlydelights.com.au/index.htm
The Band, CDs & Books, dance terms, dance tips, instruments, audio samples, dance costume, other dances
The English Country Dance Mailing List:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd.htmlx
ECD, with members from the US, Canada, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Australia and New Zealand, is a list for the discussion of all aspects, including
the aesthetic and the social, of English Country Dance, historical, traditional,
and contemporary. See articles about the dance, including definitions of
basic terms.
History of Minuet
www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3minuet.htm
-The Seventeenth Century brought one of the most celebrated dances in our
history... The Minuet (aka Menuet). The minuet was originally derived from
the Branle of Poitou, France and was to capture every King and Queen and
their court for over 150 years. The Minuet was the successor the Courante.
The name Minuet comes from the small steps that are taken during the dance.
How to Dance a Minuet
www.colonialmusic.org/Resource/howtoMIN.htm
18th-century dance is a complex subject. Dance technique throughout the period
changed frequently as new fashions and fads swept across the land. Usually
described as the latest, with the newest methods,
or the most fashionable, dancing was an expression of social
values. Among the upper classes it functioned as the presentation and
ritualization of their status through grace of body and display of fine clothing
and jewels. Among the lower, it could become competitive, enhancing ones
reputation in the community. Personal ability, sophistication of taste, and
availability of new material as well as social standing, region, and environment
all affected dance interpretation and performance.
Minuets For Dancing
http://members.aol.com/dance18thc
"includes music and detailed instructions for dancing Eighteenth-Century Minuet"
Charles Hendrickson and Frances Hendrickson, 24 pages, ISBN 1-877984-18-3
Minuet Step and Figures
http://www.pathcom.com/~rosina/penn02/baroque.htm
Crossing the Line - an Intro to Baroque Court Dance
Given by Rosina del Bosco Chiaro, Pennsic 2002
Miscellaneous
Dance sheets
www.panix.com/~wlinden/dances.cgi
www.cam.ac.uk/societies/round/dances/danceidx.htm
list of dances
Dance list; name, set, meter, and key.
clothing patterns
Recreating the clothing of the Georgian era.....
Fine patterns for both Ladies and Gentlemen for all manner of Clothing and Accessories.
All designs to the latest Taste and most fashionable precepts
clothing & accoutrements
"the site will continue to explore topics relevant to the New England living history community"
Send corrections and updates
to FHdancenet@aol.com